


Only a Motion Away

by CravenRaven



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, One Shot, Past Torture, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 10:18:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1601276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CravenRaven/pseuds/CravenRaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A broken man goes home. </p><p>Post adwd, Theon's thoughts as he goes to meet his mother.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only a Motion Away

He didn’t expect to be here in fact he doubted the woman would want to see him in the state he was in. The last time he returned home he failed to visit her, brushed aside his sister’s pleas and went to his father in search of glory. But now… He didn’t know what to do. It’s been years and rumors were his mother had gone mad, mad from grief and sorrow.

 _Would it be best if she thought I were dead?_ _I’m a horrible son. I don’t even know if I want to see her again._

His sister had brought him here, to the Ten Towers. _I don’t even remember if I’ve come here before. When was the last time I came here? Did I ever step through these halls?_

Theon didn’t know what she wanted, bringing him back to the isles. For one he knew Asha brought him here to see their mother. _Reek doesn’t have a mother._

He composed himself remembering he was no longer Reek, no longer at the mercy of northerners. He wore a clean black doublet and neat brown breeches, simple but nothing like the itchy rags he had become accustomed to. The luxury of them felt almost foreign. _Do I even deserve to wear them?_ He had bathed regularly once they’d left the North, he’d forgotten how sweet the feel of soap could be even on the eve of winter.

Not only was he dressed better with his sister’s help his teeth had been fixed and replaced. It felt strange but nowhere near as painful as what he’d already gone through. However his hair was still brittle and he was still short a few fingers. For now all he could do was wear gloves to mask that castration. 

_If she sees me it might truly kill her. Why did I even agree to come?_

He agreed to see her, if he could go alone. The mad woman of Harlaw she was now called. His uncle Rodrik had given him directions towards her chambers and somehow he found each step familiar. _I’ve been here before haven’t I? I thought all I could remember was Winterfell. Winterfell… my name might be cursed thanks to Theon the hungry wolf…_ Theon wanted to laugh at that.  _I’m not even a Stark! Hungry though… Lord Ramsay made sure of it. A wolf? I’ve spent too long in the North to be thought of as anything else. Did I find myself before only to be lost once more?_

He walked up the steps in the ten towers, towards the chambers where his mother dwelt. Fixated, he gazed almost eternally at the door. _I should turn away, I should go back and run. She shouldn’t see me like this. I don’t even remember how she looks like. We’re both strangers now there’s no need to see each other again._

It took all his courage just to knock and the wait for it to be answered felt more like hours than seconds.

A chambermaid had opened the door for him. The girl starred at him, eyes without recognition. “Milady doesn’t usually take visitors.” The girl told him shyly oddly frightened.

_I should take this chance to turn away. The girl probably thinks of me as some lowly well-dressed beggar, not that I would blame her._

Before he could turn away the maid opened the door for him asking him to enter.

_Why would she tell me to leave and then open the door for me? Oh right, she’s a woman of the Iron Isles, she doesn’t think I’m any danger to her._

Every step felt like lead weighed him down. He directed himself towards an old woman sitting on an old wicker chair. The woman was gazing towards the wall, directed at nothing. _It’s now or never,_ he thought to himself as he stepped into her line of vision.

 _Gods she looks old_. Her face was matted with small wrinkles and her eyes were sagged with black lines. She looked as if she hadn’t slept and her once brown hair had turned all white. The once proud strength with the merciless vibrancy it once held was gone as well.

He’d once remembered her, proud and strong, like Asha. The woman in front of him seemed more like a shade of the once proud Alannys Harlaw. _She’s almost as broken as I am. Mayhaps even more so._   

Hot tears trickled down his face. _Don’t cry you fool you’ll only look weak to her. Weak, weak it rhymes with Reek. No my name is Theon. Theon of house Greyjoy, a Greyjoy of Pyke, Theon Greyjoy from the Iron Isles. And that is my mother Alannys of house Harlaw._

She stood up abruptly grabbed his face, clinging onto his face almost desperately. Her expression looked vexed yet somehow her eyes knew. _She knows who I am._

She glanced up towards him, her lips moved as if she was trying to mouth something but couldn’t find the words. She let go of his face shortly after. Neither said anything as both their eyes welled with tears.

And in her warm embrace he knew no words needed to be spoken as he lowered his head and kissed his brow.

**Author's Note:**

> A mother's day inspired fic. 
> 
> I gave up on the title and took lyrics from Paul Simon's Mother and Child Reunion. Eh, I can't be creative all the time.


End file.
